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Diet controls estrogen levels too. National Cancer Institute data shows that
when a woman begins a high-fiber, low-fat diet, estrogen levels can drop by
15 to 50 percent. A woman following a plant-based diet will still have
plenty of estrogen to support necessary functions at the molecular level,
but there will be far less estrogen available to stimulate tumor growth.
That sounds like a good thing for cancer prevention.

After withdrawing from animal products abruptly and completely six years
ago, I developed drenching night sweats. I woke up wet and slimy like a
fish, and often switched to the guest bedroom to finish my nightís sleep,
since my bed was rendered uninhabitable. I thought my metabolism had gotten
completely boggled, and the next step would be an early and untimely death
after a hip fracture or some other horrible outcome reserved for the very
sick and very old. I wondered what kind of witchcraft was leading a gal in
her late 30s to be drenched in sweat in the middle of the night.

But after just a few short weeks, my body balanced out beautifully. I
experienced less backache and cramping with menses, clearer thinking and a
higher level of energy. I chalked up the night sweats to bad dreams. It was
years later before I made the connection.

Your Hot Flash

Eighty percent of women experiencing their transition to menopause are
symptomatic in one way or another. These symptoms, fortunately, decrease as
we get older. By the age of 55, only 6.6 percent of women will still suffer
persistent hot flashes and night sweats. By the age of 65, only 3.4 percent
of women are still having vasomotor instability, the medical term for hot
flashes and night sweats. These are the women who may benefit from the
addition of hormone replacement therapy to control their symptoms if they
are perceived as life-altering or intolerable.

Hot flashes and night sweats are increasingly well-studied, but poorly
understood. Sensors applied to womenís chests failed to identify actual
temperature differences in women suffering from hot flashes, thus failing to
prove that temperature dysregulation is the cause. The bottom line is, after
years of study in multiple universities, we still donít know exactly what
causes a hot

But we do have some clues as to whatís happening. The hypothalamus is
responsible for temperature regulation, and, as you might have guessed, it
has plenty of estrogen receptors on it. Interestingly, the hypothalamus also
has plenty of testosterone receptors. Our ovaries make estrogen, but they
also make testosterone. Lower levels of both testosterone and estrogen after
menopause may contribute to temperature dysregulation. Both of these sex
hormones occur naturally in women, but at declining levels as women age. A
woman can expect a decline of about 50 percent in the levels of her hormones
from the age of 20 until 40. From age 40 to the average menopausal age of
50, women see further reductions in estrogen. Before the actual onset of
menopause, itís not uncommon for women to suffer hot flashes prior to their
periods, when estrogen levels are at their lowest in their menstrual cycle.

Estrogen is naturally present in every womanís body. The term ďestrogenĒ
really refers to a group of hormones, including estrone, estradiol, and
others. We will refer to this group of hormones as estrogens. Studies have
identified different physiological characteristics with different estrogens,
but that is a subject for a different book. Before menopause, ovaries make
estrogen, but many other cells are also capable of manufacturing estrogen.
In fact, you can think of fat cells as little estrogen factories,
efficiently converting hormones produced in the adrenal glands into
estrogens.

While women have estrogen receptors in their breast tissue, they also have
estrogen receptors in many other cells of the body, including the skeleton,
brain and even the kidneys and adrenal glands. The effects of estrogen on
many of the organs is still not clearly defined, and I donít know if
scientists will ever determine the function of some estrogen receptors. We
do know that estrogen is, at different times of the life cycle and at
different concentrations, both valuable to some organs and problematic for
others. While estrogen is valuable in growing breast tissue in the
adolescent female, it is detrimental to many women recovering from breast
cancer. When researchers add a little bit of estrogen to cancer cells in the
laboratory, cancer cells grow much faster. In fact, many modern
pharmaceuticals used for treating breast cancer work to reduce the ability
of available estrogen to stimulate cancer cells by blocking the receptor or
by limiting the bodyís ability to synthesize estrogen at all.

Your News Flash

Diet controls estrogen levels too. National Cancer Institute data shows that
when a woman begins a high-fiber, low-fat diet, estrogen levels can drop by
15 to 50 percent. A woman following a plant-based diet will still have
plenty of estrogen to support necessary functions at the molecular level,
but there will be far less estrogen available to stimulate tumor growth.
That sounds like a good thing for cancer prevention.

A study published in 2003 by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute
found that when girls, ages eight to ten, reduced the amount of fat in their
diet, their estrogen levels decreased to lower and safer levels. By
increasing the consumption of whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables,
these girls dropped their estrogen levels by 30 percent compared to the
girls who changed nothing. Cancer scientists believe that most cancers start
small and grow over many years until they develop into a problematic tumor,
and many cancer scientists think that most breast cancers originate in the
adolescent breast. This is the time of life when the breast tissue is
dividing most rapidly. It is in the times of rapid cellular division that
DNA is most likely to divide in an irregular way. Statistically, a higher
number of divisions result in a higher number of errors. When these abnormal
divisions are stimulated by higher levels of estrogen, it is like
fertilizing the lawn. The aberrant cell is more inclined to grow and get a
good foothold with estrogen stimulation. This is why itís so vitally
important to your daughterís lifelong health to consume plant foods during
her adolescence. You may literally be saving her life by protecting her from
the initiation of a breast cancer in her adolescence that will eventually
threaten her adult life.

Overdoing Your Estrogen

In certain Asian countries, there are no words in the language to describe
hot flashes or night sweats. Iíve always thought this was because women were
undervalued in some countries, and, therefore, their concerns trivialized.
If people didnít listen to women value value what women said, why would
there be a broad vocabulary to describe signs and symptoms of diseases that
are limited to women?

It is possible, and more likely, however, that their healthy plant-based
diets attenuate the estrogen withdrawal symptoms of menopause and lead to
far fewer signs and symptoms, such as hot flashes and night sweats.

Journal of National Cancer Institute data shows that girls who remove animal
products from their diet experience a 30 percent decline in serum estrogen
levels. I think I personally experienced relative estrogen withdrawal when I
awoke as a slimy wet fish six years ago. Reducing the animal content of my
diet from 40 percent of my daily calories to less than 5 percent virtually
overnight resulted in a relative estrogen deficiency, and undoubtedly, my
body was aware of the change. That 40 percent reduction in estrogen in my
bloodstream led to vasomotor instability and left me standing, shivering and
boggled, next to my cold wet bed in the middle of the night. Iím so thankful
I learned the truth about animal foods and changed my diet before that
excess estrogen caused a lot more trouble. Now, I have enough estrogen to
live as a healthy woman, but not so much that Iím undoing my health.

This Too Will End

The majority of women experience the menopausal transition at 50 years old.
By the age of 54, virtually every woman will have completed her menopausal
transition. Twenty percent of women have no signs or symptoms associated
with their menopause, except cessation of the menstrual period. The other 80
percent of women are symptomatic in one way or another. The conglomeration
of symptoms experienced by each individual woman seems to be related to a
mixture of genetics and lifestyle.

Often, in the midst of acute symptomatic estrogen withdrawal, women can
experience difficulty concentrating or increased anxiety or depression. This
leads many women to arrive at my office with a request for hormonal
supplementation for their perceived cognitive impairments.

While I have plenty of sympathy for someone who is feeling frustrated by
depression or anxiety limiting their level of function, I can also offer
plenty of reassurance. Many studies have reviewed the data on mood disorder
surrounding menopause, and the results are very comforting. It turns out
that when you awaken a woman several times a night with sweats and give her
hot flashes all day, sheís not going to be at the top of her game.
Scientists have studied this problem by comparing the level of function of
60-year-old women with their fourth grade report cards. Scientists wanted to
determine if a womanís mental capacities and mood were impacted by estrogen
withdrawal. It turns out that the level of productivity and basic
personality of the 60-year-old women studied was surprisingly consistent
with the behaviors documented in the fourth grade report cards. That is, the
womenís personalities were quite similar to the way they had been in their
childhoods, regardless of the intensity of the mood disorders surrounding
their menopausal transitions.

You can learn a lot about a person by reviewing their fourth grade report
card, since personality traits are well-established by that time.
Conversely, you donít learn anything by watching a woman suffer through a
particularly symptomatic menopausal transition, except perhaps how she will
respond to stress and acute illness. If there is some difficulty
concentrating or a mood disorder like depression or anxiety, it will go away
once the transition is completed and the woman adjusts to her new hormonal
environment.

Estrogen and Your Brain

The literature is divided on the effect of estrogen on the aging brain.
While the North American Menopause Society thinks that estrogen offers
minimal protection of healthy brain function, there is still considerable
debate on the topic. There is not enough evidence to suggest that women
supplementing with estrogen in her post-menopausal years are protecting
their brains. Any small effect of estrogen withdrawal seen at the time of
menopause on cognitive function is largely mitigated with the passage of
time and distancing oneself from the acute situation.

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